The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-02-22
WING WITH A BROKEN NECK.
"A Remarkable Case in Brooklyn
Hospital That Is Attracting
Much Attention.

The attention OF medical mon ano
experts all over Brooklyn and New
York is being attracted to the extraor-
binary case of Joseph Somcrs, who has
been living for over three months with
broken neck in the Homeopathic hos
pital on Cumberland street in this city.
II is not at all likely that he will re-
cover. but whether he lives or dies he
will long serve as most interesting H.
lustration OF the error Of the widely
prevalent notion that fracture of the
spinal column is Immediately fatal.
Somers was laborer. On the evening
of the 9Th of last October, while under
the influence of liquor, he stumbled
backward down an areaway. He was
taken to the Homeopathic hospital in
an ambulance, where, upon cXamina-
ton, it was fonnd he had received Sc
we're injuries to the spinal column,
near the napc of the neck. There was
deformity-a ridging of the skin
that showed that the bones OF the spinal
column had been displaced. This de-
formity was reduced under pressure,
in much the fashion of setting broken
finger This appeared TO somewhat re-
lieVe the pain, which was, before that,
very intense. During two weeks SOM
ers was completely paralyzcd below
his mock. After that he commenced to
slowly regain sensation in his limbs,
but only to slight extent, so that he
has never possessed what healthy
person would understand as feeling in
his legs. So completely has the lower
part Of his body been overcome by this
paralysis that the hospital physicians,
in testing the condition of his nerves.
have tickled the soes of his feet with
pencils and have pricked the skin
sharply with pins, without producing
in the injured man any sensation OF
pain. He can just manage to distinguish
which foot is being tickled or pricked
and that is all. The doctors have made
several unsuccessful efforts to find out
the exact nature of the injury to the
neck. Somers can use his arms little,
can talk, can move his eyes and tongue,
and his digestive organs are not i'm
paired, so that he can eat whatever
food happens to strike his fancy. His
brain has not been affected and he
hangs. fully conscious, in this cond-
ton, between life and death, waiting
for the latter to put an end to his suf-
ferings, which are severe. DIR. Persifor
M. Cooke. one of the hospital physi-
clans, says that the man cannot recover,
but that he may linger along in this
way for long time. DR.. Lewis, the
surgeon of the visiting staff, who has
the case in charge, is of the same opin-
ion. So is DR.. Willis, who was the sur
geon of the visiting staff when Somers
was taken to the hospital. There
never.was case like it in the institu
ton. A reporter yesterday sought DIR.
John G. Johnson. the expert in spinal
diseases. and asked him:
How can man live with Il fractur-
ed or broken neckP"
''He can not" replied the doctor,
except under certa n circumstances.
If the spinal cord is much injured the
person must die The spinal column"
picking up huge medical work, and
opening it at cut of the human back
bone, sis very delicate and wonder
fully constructed piece Of mechanism.
The top bone of the spine is called the
atlas. On this the head rests. The
next bone below is called the axis.
It has a tiny projection, no bigger than
tooth. On this little projecting bone,
that you could break with slight blow
from u tack-hammer, is pvoted the at
las and the head. Through these bones,
starting from the brain, runs the spinal
cord. All the nerves of organic life
start from the brain through the spinal
column. The backbone is composed of
a good many small bones dovetailed in
one TO another. The slender cord. he
added, pointing to large colored
chart, (which is called the spinal mar
row, is telegraph wire, rs il were,
carrying the current of life from the
Drain TO the body. 1t is more than one
telegraph wirc-it is a bunch OF wires.
One wire transmits the power to see,
another the power TO feel, another the
power to hear. and so on. Now, you
can cut one wire without cutting the
others. You can paralyZe the lower
limbs without removing the power TO
digest food. But it doesn't take much,
/ assure YOU. to iniure the spinal cord
that the heart suddenly cease to beat
and the lungs stop their functions. One
of the nerves which forms the spinal
column is what is called the pneumo-
gastric nerve. Pncumo refers to the
lungs and gastric of the stomach, and
the nerve carries the power to perform
their duties to both the lungs and the
stomach. 1t is evident from the de-
scription of Somcrs' cond ton that his
pneumogastric nerves has not yet becn